SensAble Technologies Helps NHL Central Scouting Rank Hockey Draft Picks With Haptically-Enabled...

SensAble Technologies Helps NHL Central Scouting Rank Hockey Draft Picks With Haptically-Enabled Testing

Quantifying Finesse On the Ice through Touch-Enabled Testing and
Other Scores; Analysis Underway to Validate Whether Tests Translate
Into Success in the NHL
TORONTO & WOBURN, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
SensAble Technologies, Inc(R), a leading provider of haptic
devices and modeling solutions, announced that the NHL Central
Scouting organization is using simulation tests developed by a
Toronto-based researcher using SensAble's PHANTOM(R) force feedback
devices and OpenHaptics(R) software to measure player finesse in a
virtual hockey game - information the scouting group hopes will add to
their predictive accuracy of the final rankings of the top 100 draft
prospects.

Tests were developed at York University by neuroscientist Dr.
Lauren Sergio, director of the motor control lab at the school. A
hockey stick connected to a SensAble haptic device is used to measure
the players' stick-to-ice contact and smoothness as they move around a
series of 3D virtual obstacles on a computer screen. This exercise
generates a hand-eye coordination score, a key element that separates
players with the finesse to glide, shoot and score effortlessly, from
those with less efficient on-ice performance.

As the NHL season begins, York University is also commencing an
analysis of four years of such hand-eye coordination testing data to
determine if these tests, along with a battery of other fine motor and
physiological measures done at the annual NHL Scouting Combine each
May, predict the players that are drafted and play in the NHL. With
only an estimated one-third of hockey's draft picks achieving any NHL
game ice time at all - the rest either playing on farm teams or not
making it at all to the pros - defining better predictive measures may
help hockey scouts to identify the next generation of superstars,
faster.

"I see great potential in this kind of research on player
performance, and am eager to see what the results show about player
scores as a predictor of NHL draft selection," said E.J. McGuire,
director of NHL Central Scouting in Toronto. "I've personally used
SensAble's devices in the smoothness testing as created by Dr. Sergio
and found the task both fun and difficult to do. Realistic simulations
that utilize force feedback can clearly play a role in our
evaluations, and it will be interesting to see how the test results
map to the success of players that make it onto the ice."

Each year NHL Central Scouting gathers its top 100 draft prospects
in Toronto for the Scouting Combine, where both North American and
European players undergo team interviews, medical screening and
physical testing as part of a week-long regimen. Each player
participates in a York University-designed protocol of physiological
and motor control testing created by Professor Sergio and her
colleague in York's School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Professor
Norman Gledhill. In the haptically-enabled hand-eye coordination test,
players must move through what Dr. Sergio calls an
"acceleration-dependent curl field" to score smoothness compared to
jerky movement. The more players change direction or accelerate
quickly when they move around four pylons on screen in a slalom-like
motion, the more force SensAble's PHANTOM device exerts on the
player's hand. Players also undergo breathing, heart rate and other
tests to score bimanual coordination. Results are tallied individually
and combined into a total score representing the player's overall
aptitude for professional play.

"Often the players that score the highest on the test are not the
ones at the top of NHL Central Scouting's Ranking list which is
published prior to the Combine," said Dr. Lauren Sergio, associate
professor at York University. Her research to determine how the human
brain uses sensory input to control muscle movement was funded in part
by grants from the Ontario Innovation Trust and the Canada Foundation
for Innovation Investment. "Once Central Scouting publishes the final
results of all tests in the protocol, the individual NHL teams have
more information from which they may make any final adjustments to
their own individual preference list prior to the NHL Entry Draft,
which takes place in late June."

"SensAble's PHANTOM premium devices are robust and have a large
workspace and range of motion," Dr. Sergio continued. "They have
performed beautifully for us and can stand up to the repeated testing
of the tough grips of some of hockey's biggest, strongest players."
Dr. Sergio's staff also used SensAble's OpenHaptics(R) toolkit to
program the PHANTOM device so that it provides the player with the
synchronous "feeling" of moving in time with the on-screen graphics
updates.

"We are at the beginning stages of an exciting new frontier in
haptically-enabled testing," said Dr. David Chen, chief technology
officer at SensAble Technologies. "Virtual-reality testing is moving
out of the research lab and into meaningful and measurable
applications. We are pleased to be part of York University's
ground-breaking work and are eager to help its team explore future
uses for artificial touch."

About SensAble Technologies

Founded in 1993, SensAble Technologies is a leading developer of
3D touch-enabled (force feedback) solutions and technology that allow
users to not only see and hear an on-screen computer application, but
to actually 'feel' it. With 32 patents granted and over 6,000 systems
installed worldwide, SensAble Technologies' haptic technology is being
used in applications ranging from designing toys and footwear, to
surgical simulation and stroke rehabilitation, to dental restorations,
as well as a range of research and robotic applications. The company
markets its own 3D modeling solutions as well as its haptic devices
and developer toolkits to medical, dental, design, and manufacturing
companies; educational and research institutions; and OEMs. SensAble
products are available through direct and reseller channels worldwide.
www.sensable.com.

SensAble, OpenHaptics, and PHANTOM, are trademarks or registered
trademarks of SensAble Technologies, Inc. Other brand names are
trademarks of their respective holders.

SensAble Technologies, Inc.
Laura Wallace, 781-939-7437
media@sensable.com
or
York University
Janice Walls, 416-736-2100 ext. 22101
Media Relations Coordinator
wallsj@yorku.ca
or
MKM Corporate Communications
Mary Kae Marinac, 978-685-3136
mkmarinac@comcast.net

Copyright Business Wire 2008